Thursday, 14 August 2014

1914-04-18

The
passing of Edward Bethune, on Friday of last week, removed another old-timer
from the stage of action. During the latter years of his life, he was a
comparative stranger in a town where he once was active. Sixty years ago he was
a partner in the confectionery business of Ecclestone & and Bethune, the
firm conduction two of the leading shops in Hamilton. From the first knowledge,
the writer of these musings had of Mr. Bethune, he was always interested in
religious work. In 1855, he joined the volunteer fire department and was a
member of No. 1 company, having a his associates George Tuckett, Charles
Newberry, Harry Harding, Joshua Phillips, all prominent in business circles. In
looking over the old roll of the company, the only one now living in Hamilton
is James Phillips. How time rolls around! Of the 135 names of No. 1 in 1855,
how few are left! The minutes of the old fire company are full of quaint
doings. For instance, Edward Bethune presented, at a meeting, a bill of 17
shillings, 6 pence for beer, and after some discussion, it was allowed. The
boys of No. 1 often indulged in beer and crackers and cheese at their meetings,
but not to a hilarious extent. Charley Smith, the oldest living fireman in the
city, celebrated his eightieth birthday a week ago last Sunday. He was born in
New York city and came to Hamilton when a boy. He joined the old department in
1847, and was captain of a boys’ company, the engine being a present from John
Fisher, of the firm Fisher and McQuesten, and was made in their foundry. Of No.
3 company, there are but few left. It was a temperance company, and no one was
eligible for membership who smothered his face in the foam of a beer mug. The
few survivors of the old department are men now ranging along about the
eighties, exempting Colonel John Stoneman, and he was only a boy when he first
began as a torchbearer.

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Probably one of the oldest men in
Hamilton, and without a doubt, the oldest business man, ended life’s journey on
Friday of last week. David Galbraith was in his ninety-sixth year; he was born
in Stoney Creek and lived there till arriving at man’s estate, when he moved
into Hamilton and engaged in the grocery business. When Mr. Galbraith was born,
on the 18th day of February 1819, Stoney Creek was a more important
point than was Hamilton, or Head of the Lake as it was then called. Being
raised on a farm, his inclinations led to a farming life, and he became a
student of fruit raising, which was then in its infancy, especially the
cultivation of the peach, starting the first peach-tree nursery in this section.
When he first came to Hamilton, there was but one brick cottage in the village,
and that stood on a knoll on the corner of King and John streets. On the first
of October, 1841, Mr. Galbraith opened a general store in a frame building
adjoining the Waldorf hotel on the east, and did business there till early in
the fifties, when he moved across the street, opposite the Waldorf. He was
successful as a business man. He took an active part in politics and
represented St. Patrick’s ward in the city council till he was appointed one of
the commissioner in 1855, to organize a system of waterworks for the city, in connection
with Charles Magill, Adam Brown, M. Wilson Browne and Peter Balfour. T. C.
Keefer was the engineer who planned the system, and the commissioners ably
seconded his efforts. There were diverse opinions as from whence should the
supply of water come, some favoring a canal from the Grand river, others going
still farther to Lake Erie, while others thought the bay would be the cheapest.
Mr. Keefer decided that the present source of supply would be the purest and
best and his plan was adopted by the commissioners. It was no slight
undertaking for a town of less than 11,000 inhabitants to undertake, and that,
too, at the beginning of one of the worst financial panics that ever visted
Canada. The estimated cost of the system was $440,000, and the commissioners
completed their at but little more than the engineer’s estimate. For this
amount the pumping station at the beach with a complete outfit of machinery was
built, the reservoir on the mountain, about180 feet above the level of the
lake, was constructed, and thirteen miles of pipe, extending from Wellington to
Bay street, and from Hannah to Barton, with one hundred hydrants, was
completed. To provide for a population of 25,000, it was estimated would
require an additional $40,000. This was the system that David B. Galbraith
helped to organize. Adam Brown is the only survivor of the first board of water
commissioners of Hamilton. They planned wisely and well. After Mr. Galbraith
retired from business, he was appointed to a position in the customs service, which
he held till superannuated. He was always in the front rank of those who loved
the city and was ready to make sacrifice for its advancement.

John Wannamaker, formerly
postmaster-general of the United States, does not take kindly to long Sunday
services. Now no one can accuse Mr. Wannamaker of a lack f reverence for the
Sabbath, for he has been an earnest worker in the church and in the Sunday
school from his youth up, but he has the courage of his convictions and is not
afraid to speak out in a meeting at the mid-year conference of the Pennsylvania
State Sabbath School association held in Philadelphia last week, he said, “You
spend too much time fussing with programs, speeches, meetings and movements.
You will win greater success if you adopt some of the methods used by Billy
Sunday, the evangelist. Religious services are too long and too dry anyhow, and
the church or Sunday school that expects to meet with success must deliver the
goods the people want.” Some people object to Billy Sunday’s language. It’s
pretty hard to break away from the language a fellow has been using since
childhood, and we should not overlook the harvest to examine the harrow too
closely. Mr. Wannabaker added that Sunday schools should try to follow the
principles of vocational training by discovering and developing the inclination
of each pupil.

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The present tightness
of the money market and the consequent depression in business does not seem to
make any appreciable difference in the value of real estate in Hamilton. While
the transactions are not as many, yet prices keep advancing steadily. The
scarcity of inside property stiffens up the price. There may not be as much
building within the next few months, but this will not reduce the value of
houses, rather tend to an increase in price. The prospect for the building of
new churches and of improving the old ones is going to set a good many
thousands afloat during the coming summer. If money is as scarce as it is
claimed for it, then it is certainly not among churches, for the Easter reports
indicate a liberal giving that is unprecedented. Seventeen years ago, a
newcomer to Hamilton was in search of a lot on which to build a house, and he
was offered about seventy-five feet on the corner of West avenue and King
streets – the corner just east of the First Methodist church – for $2,000. The
site was all that was desirable, but being from the country, he had the horror
of the noise of the street cars passing by, so he let it pass. There are three
brick houses on that lot, which pay an annual rental that would have been a big
interest on the $2,000 invested. However, he let the opportunity pass. A couple
of years ago, the trustees of the Methodist church offered $15,000 for the
lots, and would have gone a little better rather than miss getting them. The
owners turned up their noses at even $20,000, and now are holding them at
$30,000. This is but one instance of the increasing value of property in this
city. We might cite several cases where large sums have been paid for desirable
lots even within the past couple of years, but this one takes the bun. We
presume the assessors have not yet learned the increased value of that
property, but somehow or another residence property keeps on increasing in
value according to the assessors.

Those get-rich-quick
advertisements we read in the daily papers certainly offer tempting
inducements, and thousands of dollars pass from the pockets every year of the
gullible ones into the pockets of the sharpers. For instance, an advertisement
which has grown gray in the service is that which offers to furnish literary
employment to those who want it, where they can make a good salary writing for
the newspapers, and it does not cost the applicant a cent. Generous souls, to
give free information to those ignorant of newspaper work! But when the applicant
writes for a position then the advertiser gets in his work, and bleeds the
unfortunate one so long as there is a dollar to be had, and at last to find out
that there is nothing in it. Then there other advertisements of a similar
nature offering free information that will make the fortunes of the applicants,
and all one has to do is write and have the good thing handed out to them
without fee or reward. When one writes for information, then a small fee is
required, and so it goes on so long as the innocent one can be gulled. These
sharks live on the ignorance and gullibility of those who are always who are
always on the lookout for some means by which they can get rich without work.
Pay no attention to such advertisements and you will save money.

How are you this
morning? Fine and dandy, are you? Want to know how to remain in that condition?
Then listen to the advice of a governor of an eastern state: “Take a good long
walk every morning; eat wholesome food; refrain from alcoholic liquors; refrain
from excessive use of tobacco, and particularly from inhaling the smoke; and,
having attended in all these matters, pray hard, for nothing can keep you
healthy and strong except the Grace of Almighty God.” Here is a recognition of
the Supreme Director from a man who finds time in the midst of the cares of a
great office in a great state, to remember the things that be of the spirit. He
has learned that the restful spirit makes for bodily health and strength – an
easy lesson to learn for which no particular cult is needed – just calm, common
sense. Some of us learn it early, some late, but to all the fact some day comes
home that the troubled, vexed spirit makes much of pain and ill for the outer
man, doesn’t it?